This week I thought I would play on one of my all time favorite recipes, and in celebration of summer approaching, make some chicken tikka masala skewers. But when I got my chicken out, it had already gone bad, so I deferred to some shrimp I had luckily sitting in my freezer instead. Usually when something doesn’t work out the way I had planned–it actually turns out better, which is the case with these shrimp tikka masala skewers! I wish the shrimp I had on hand, had tails on them, and were slightly prettier, but with the orange mango, and green lime and jalapeños, they actually turned out vibrant, and kinda pretty. The flavors worked awesomely together! Usually I pair my tikka masala with mango chutney, so the sweet mango slices were a MUST, then I added some jalapeños for some additional heat, and some lime wedges. I was going to serve them on a bed of rice, without the sauce–but my husband and I both agreed that the masala sauce was the best part, so I added it at the last minute, and i’m so glad I did! I spooned some of it over the kababs while I was cooking them, and it added a lot of extra flavor and color! I invited my bro in law Dexter over for dinner, and we all LOVED these! They are one of the BEST things I have made in a really long time, and can’t wait to make more this summer! I hope you guys all enjoy!More

I am the only one in my little family who likes asparagus, so I rarely cook it because I can’t get anyone to eat it! Then recently I found a recipe for parmesan fries on pinterest that seemed to “disguise” the asparagus enough that my kids wouldn’t know what they were eating, and delicious enough that my husband wouldn’t complain–so I made a couple of different versions with high hopes, both of which were horrible! The first, I thought i’d be clever and creative, and added some citrus–which was SO gross that it almost put me off asparagus {with the rest of my family}. Then the second was a classic, popular recipe–but I just couldn’t get the flour and egg and parmesan and panko to adhere to a smooth, shiny, thin asparagus spear, and it was a huge, frustrating MESS!

Then yesterday as I resolved to master attempt number 3 {the more something defeats me, the more determined I am to defeat IT!} I decided to wrap prosciutto around the asparagus first. Not only would this help the heavy mixture of flour and egg and cheese and panko actually STICK to the spear, but I knew my family would LOVE it if it involved bacon, {even in its slightly healthier form}. It worked like a charm! They were salty, and cheesy, and crispy and pretty heavenly! I served them alongside a couple of steaks, but they would be great dipped in a cheesy, creamy alfredo sauce too! Yum!More

A new, popular food fad is to load up fries with delicious, creative toppings and sauces that go way beyond your average “chili cheese fries!” I saw a post on pinterest the other day for chicken tikka masala fries, and couldn’t resist! I mean, I should have at least tried–because I am trying to eat a little healthier as we go into this summer swim-suit season, but I made them anyway, and I was not sorry. Maybe because I decided to lighten the recipe up with oven-baked fries! I used my favorite bombay house chicken tikka masala as the base of this recipe– the fries are covered in the chicken tikka spices, and loaded up with creamy, delicious masala sauce and topped with some fresh cilantro. I served them with some sweet mango chutney, just to balance out out the flavors, and there were SO divine! I can definitely see why these are such a big craze lately! I hope you guys all love them too!More

I have already found my favorite go-to recipes for chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, chicken korma, and chicken Makhani {aka. Indian Butter chicken}, which are some of my favorite recipes of all time, and the most popular out of all the recipes on my Blog. The next two most popular Indian chicken dishes on my list to make– are chicken tandoori and chicken biryani. I decided to make them together, because they both go hand in hand! The first day I made a curried pilaf rice with the tandoori chicken, then the next day, I chopped up the chicken, sautéed it up with the spinach, added the left-over curried rice, and served it with a side of raita to make the Biryani. This Biryani recipe might seem like a lot of work, but when you make the chicken tandoori and curried pilaf rice as your meal the day before, it comes together in minutes! I have tried a lot of Biryani’s, that have been dry, or bland, or too greasy–but this recipe is the BEST one I have ever tasted–so i’m really excited to add yet another awesome indian chicken dish to my repertoire! I hope you guys enjoy!More

About Me

Hi, i’m Sarah. Welcome to “Mattawa Mum” a place for me to share my life as an English stay at home Mum of two, in a small American farm town known as Mattawa. Life out here in the middle of nowhere has been one hard adjustment--I used to live an hour from London, and now I live an hour from a decent grocery store, but I have found that working hard, keeping busy and learning all I can, help me focus on more positive things as I grow as a wife, mother, artist, crafter, photographer, home-cook and now “Country-girl!” I hope you stay a while, and find something fun to read, cute to copy, or good to eat!